Varėna

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Varėna
City
Varena1a.JPG
Town clock
Varenos veliava.svg
Flag
Varena COA.svg
Coat of arms
Varena logo.svg
Brandmark
Lithuania adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Varėna
Location of Varėna
Coordinates: 54°12′40″N24°34′20″E / 54.21111°N 24.57222°E / 54.21111; 24.57222
Country Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania
Ethnographic region Dzūkija
County Alytus County flag.svg Alytus County
Municipality Varėna district municipality
Capital of Varėna district municipality
Varėna eldership
First mentioned1377
Granted town rights 1946
Area
 • Total
12 km2 (5 sq mi)
Population
 (2024 [1] )
 • Total
7,794
 • Density650/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)

Varėna ( pronunciation ⓘ ) is a city in Dzūkija, southern Lithuania.

Contents

Etymology

The name of the town comes from an old village - Senoji Varėna (at the time called simply Varėna), while the new, present Varėna was being established nearby. The place name itself comes from the name of the Varėnė River. [2] In other languages, the town is referred to as: Polish : Orany [3] ; German : Warnen; Yiddish : אוראַןOran.

History

The town was founded in 1862 near the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, 4 km (2.5 mi) south of Sena Varėna (Old Varėna). At that time it was a small settlement, but following steady development it eventually became the center of the district. In the interbellum period, following World War I, the town was annexed by Poland, and renamed Orany. It was located near the then Polish-Lithuanian border, in the Wilno-Troki County (Powiat wileńsko-trocki) of the Wilno Voivodeship. In 1939, following the German-Soviet Invasion of Poland, Varėna was returned to Lithuania.

On September 9, 1942, all the Jews of the town of Varėna were collected in the local synagogue. On that day, even though the Germans had tried to prevent him from doing so, the priest Jonas Gylys entered the synagogue and encouraged the Jews to be brave in their last hours rather than convert to Christianity.

On the following day (or, according to another source, on the 9th itself) all of the Jews were taken from the synagogue to Ežeriekai - a grove of trees near the village of Druckūnai, 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) from the town, on the side of the road leading to the village. Two large pits had been dug there 25 metres (82 feet) apart, one for the men and one for the women. Germans forced the victims in groups toward the pits and shot them there.

According to the report of Karl Jaeger, commander of Einsatzkommando 3A, 831 Jews from Varėna (and the surrounding areas) – 541 men, 149 women, and 141 children – were killed on that day. [4]

In 1946 around 2000 Poles were repatriated to Poland. [5]

Following industrialization in the 1970s, the town grew rapidly. Currently there are 9,240 residents in Varėna. The Varėna district is the largest and most forested region in Lithuania.

People

Twin towns — Sister cities

Varėna is twinned with:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Będzin</span> Place in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland

Będzin is a city in the Dąbrowa Basin, in southern Poland. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Czarna Przemsza River. Even though part of Silesian Voivodeship, Będzin belongs to historic Lesser Poland, and it is one of the oldest towns of this region. Będzin is regarded as the capital of industrial Dąbrowa Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tykocin</span> Town in Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland

Tykocin is a small town in north-eastern Poland, with 2,010 inhabitants (2012), located on the Narew river, in Białystok County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is one of the oldest towns in the region, with its historic center designated a Historic Monument of Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grajewo</span> Place in Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland

Grajewo is a town in north-eastern Poland with 21,499 inhabitants (2016). It is the capital of Grajewo County within the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is located within the historic region of Masovia, near the border with Podlachia and Masuria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aukštieji Paneriai</span> Suburb of Vilnius, Lithuania, and site of the Ponary massacre

Aukštieji Paneriai is a neighborhood of Vilnius, situated about 10 kilometres away from the city center. It is located on low forested hills, on the Vilnius-Warsaw road. Paneriai was the site of the Ponary massacre, a mass killing of as many as 100,000 people from Vilnius and nearby towns and villages during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vištytis</span> Town in Suvalkija Region, Lithuania

Vištytis is a small town in Marijampolė County, Vilkaviškis District Municipality in southwestern Lithuania on the border with Russia and close to the border with Poland. It is the administrative center of Vištytis eldership (seniūnija).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lida</span> City in Grodno Region, Belarus

Lida is a city in Grodno Region, western Belarus, located 168 kilometres (104 mi) west of Minsk. It serves as the administrative center of Lida District. As of 2024, it has a population of 103,916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Przysucha</span> Place in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland

Przysucha is a town in south-central Poland. Located in historic Lesser Poland, it is part of the Masovian Voivodeship, about 100 km southwest of Warsaw and 40 km west of Radom. It is the capital of Przysucha County, and the town 6,762 inhabitants (2004). Its name in Yiddish is פּשיסכע or פשיסחא or פשיסכא. In the past, it was home to a number of Hasidic Rabbis, such as The Holy Jew and Simcha Bunim of Peshischa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Szydłów</span> Town in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland

Szydłów is a fortified town in Staszów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Szydłów. It lies approximately 13 kilometres (8 mi) west of Staszów and 43 km (27 mi) south-east of the regional capital Kielce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rymanów</span> Town in Krosno County, Poland

Rymanów is a town located in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in the southeastern tip of Poland, with 3,585 inhabitants. It is a capital of a separate commune within Krosno County. Rymanów is situated in the heartland of the Doły (Pits) valley, and its average altitude is 420 metres (1,377.95 ft) above sea level, although there are some hills located within the confines of the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lipsko</span> Place in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland

Lipsko is a town in eastern Poland, in northern Lesser Poland, Masovian Voivodeship. It is the capital of Lipsko County. The population is 5,895 (2004). Lipsko’s coat of arms is the Dębno, which was used by previous owners of the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miechów</span> Place in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland

Miechów is a town in Poland, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, about 40 kilometres north of Kraków. It is the capital of Miechów County. Population is 11,852 (2004). Miechów lies on the Miechówka river, along European route E77. The area of the town is 15 square kilometres (6 sq mi), and it has a rail station, located on the main railroad which connects Kraków with Warsaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasielsk</span> Place in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland

Nasielsk is a small town in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. It is located approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the Polish capital Warsaw, on the Warsaw-Gdańsk rail line and serves as a railway junction. In 2020, the population of the town was estimated at 7,650 residents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hlybokaye</span> Town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus

Hlybokaye or Glubokoye is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Hlybokaye District. As of 2024, it has a population of 17,746.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponary massacre</span> 1941–1944 Nazi murders in Vilnius, Lithuania

The Ponary massacre, or the Paneriai massacre, was the mass murder of up to 100,000 people, mostly Jews, Poles, and Russians, by German SD and SS and the Lithuanian Ypatingasis būrys killing squads, during World War II and the Holocaust in the Generalbezirk Litauen of Reichskommissariat Ostland. The murders took place between July 1941 and August 1944 near the railway station at Ponary, a suburb of today's Vilnius, Lithuania. 70,000 Jews were murdered at Ponary, along with up to 2,000 Poles, 8,000 Soviet POWs, most of them from nearby Vilnius, and its newly formed Vilna Ghetto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daleszyce</span> Place in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland

Daleszyce is a town in Kielce County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,830 inhabitants as of December 2021. It became a town at the start of 2007. Daleszyce lies among the hills of the Malopolska Upland, in the historic province of Lesser Poland. The area of the town is 15,50 km2, and due to proximity to Kielce, it is served by buses of Kielce Transit System. Origins of its name are not known, Daleszyce was probably named after its founder, a man named Dalesz or Dalech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vishnyeva</span> Place in Minsk, Belarus

Vishnyeva is an agrotown in the Valozhyn District of Minsk Region, Belarus, near the border with Lithuania.

The Suwałki Agreement, Treaty of Suvalkai, or Suwalki Treaty was an agreement signed in the town of Suwałki between Poland and Lithuania on October 7, 1920. It was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series on January 19, 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valkininkai</span> Town in Lithuania

Valkininkai is a historic town in Valkininkų (Valkininkai) eldership, Varėna District Municipality, Alytus County, Lithuania, located about 22 km (14 mi) northeast from Varėna and about 55 km (34 mi) southwest from Vilnius. At the Lithuanian census of 2001, its population was 238 and at the census of 2011 it was 229.

References

  1. ↑ "Resident population on 1 July". osp.stat.gov.lt. 2024-07-19.
  2. ↑ Šimkus, Šarūnas (2023). Varėnos krašto vietovardžių etimologinis žodynas. Vilnius: L. Leščinskas. p. 62. ISBN   978-609-8322-09-5.
  3. ↑ Zych, Maciej; Kacprzak, Justyna, eds. (2019). Urzędowy wykaz polskich nazw geograficznych świata[Official List of Polish Geographical Names of the World] (in Polish) (2nd ed.). Warsaw: Główny Urząd Geodezji i Kartografii. p. 165. ISBN   978-83-254-2578-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ↑ "The Untold Stories. The Murder Sites of the Jews in the Occupied Territories of the Former USSR".
  5. ↑ "Stanisław Ciesielski, Aleksander Srebrakowski". Archived from the original on 2002-10-17. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.